


Coping Mechanisms

by ezazahaz



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Actual content of the nightmares is left as an exercise for the reader, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares, Or rather post-nightmares, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 05:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9803738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ezazahaz/pseuds/ezazahaz
Summary: Prompt from theImagine Tony and Buckytumblr:Imagine Tony letting Bucky join him in bed or the lab whenever Bucky needs something to ground him or when he’s being plagued by nightmares. But Bucky being shocked when one day Tony wakes up screaming and instantly heads to the alcohol.





	

Tony was fully engrossed in improvements to the armor when JARVIS interrupted him.

“Sir, you have a visitor.”

Something about that was odd. As Tony blinked himself out of the trance-like state he often worked in, he realized why: it was three in the morning. No one else should be awake.

He looked over to the door of the workshop. On the other side of the glass was one Bucky Barnes, looking... well, not quite as bad as he had when he’d first come to the Tower, constantly brooding and guilt-stricken, long hair draped over haunted eyes, but far from the sassy, confident man who’d started to return during his recovery.

“Let him in, J,” Tony ordered. “Buck-up, Buckaroo, what’s up? Arm giving you trouble again?”

Bucky shook his head, not meeting Tony’s gaze, head tilted like he wished his hair was still long enough to hide his face. His mouth opened, but it was a moment before the hesitant words came out. “JARVIS said you were awake.”

“Yeah, I don’t need a lot of sleep. Didn’t really answer my question, though. Did you need something? What’s wrong?”

After a slight hesitation, Bucky answered, “Nightmares.” He dropped the word with the weight Tony knew all too well it deserved. Then, more hesitantly, he continued. “I need... Can I just... be here? I’ll stay outta the way, you can ignore me, I just need...”

“Sure,” Tony interrupted.

Bucky looked almost surprised at the easy agreement. “Thanks.”

Tony shrugged. He wondered if he should offer the man a drink or something, but then a thought regarding his armor popped into his head and he turned back to his work, forgetting about his visitor entirely.

An hour later, he found Bucky on the lab sofa, peacefully asleep.

* * *

It happened again, and again. Not every night, not with any specific regularity, but once or twice a week.

Sometimes, like the first time, Bucky just quietly watched him, then fell asleep on the sofa. Sometimes they chatted, never about the nightmares that brought Bucky to the lab, but about Avengers battles, or Steve, or Tony’s latest projects. After Tony realized Bucky had an interest in cars, sometimes they even worked together on one of Tony’s Audis.

As much as Tony hated how lost and pained Bucky often looked when he first came in, he found himself enjoying the time they spent together. And when Bucky first showed up to the lab during the day, showing no sign of distress, Tony knew he was wearing the most ridiculous smile.

* * *

Tony really didn’t need as much sleep as most people, but he did need sleep. After being awake for 42 hours, which included work on several different projects, a tedious board meeting, a lengthy battle against Doombots, and laborious clean-up after said battle, Tony was more than ready to hit the hay. 

He was staring at his bed, debating whether it was worth the bother to brush his teeth, when JARVIS informed him that Bucky was standing in front of his lab door, “appearing mildly distressed.”

Tony closed his eyes for a moment, then managed to pry them back open. “Okay,” he said, and pulled on the jeans he’d so gratefully removed a minute earlier.

When he arrived at the lab, the change in Bucky’s eyes from despair to relief made Tony’s exhaustion worth it. He opened the door and went to pull up a hologram of his latest plans for Clint’s bow.

He didn’t know how long he’d been staring at the hologram, arm raised to do... something... when an arm touched his and he jolted in surprise.

“Sorry,” Bucky said, his voice the quiet, smooth tone it took after he’d started to recover from the latest nightmare. “Were you sleeping?”

“No,” Tony answered, though he distantly wondered if he had somehow managed to fall asleep standing up with his eyes open.

“JARVIS,” Bucky asked, assessing eyes not leaving Tony’s face, “Was Tony sleeping before he came down here?”

“Sir was not sleeping, though he had been preparing to do so.”

Tony didn’t like the frown on Bucky’s face. Bucky’s face was so much prettier when he was smiling, even if he was smirking at some joke at Tony’s expense. Not that Bucky wasn’t pretty now. Bucky was always pretty.

“Tony, you shouldn’t have come down here. You need sleep.”

Tony was confused. “You needed me.”

Now Bucky smiled, but it was a sad smile. “I appreciate that, I really do, but you gotta take care of yourself, too. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Bucky gently took his arm, guiding him out of the workshop and back to his room.

Tucked into bed before he even realized it, Tony only protested once Bucky started toward the door. “Wait!”

Bucky stopped and turned to look at him. His expression was warm, but there were still shadows under his eyes, reminders of the nightmares that had brought Tony to him in the first place.

“You don’t like to be alone after nightmares,” Tony said.

That sad smile came back. “I’ll be okay. You just get some sleep.”

“But... you could stay. My bed’s big. I could sleep and you wouldn’t be alone.”

Bucky hesitated.

“Please stay?”

Tony smiled as Bucky kicked off his shoes and moved to the other side of the large bed. He fell asleep before the other man even finished settling in.

* * *

Bucky didn’t want to wake Tony up just because he did better with company after a nightmare. Tony didn’t want Bucky to suffer more if he happened to be sleeping when Bucky needed somebody.

So they compromised. If Tony were already in bed when Bucky awoke from a nightmare, JARVIS would let him into the genius’ bedroom. Tony would wake up just enough to mutter an acknowledgement, so Bucky didn't feel like a creeper sneaking into his bedroom while he slept, but also avoided interrupting the other man’s sleep too much. Then Bucky would sit quietly, sometimes reading (the light from the tablet didn’t bother Tony--it was apparently dimmer than his arc reactor had been) or just listening to Tony’s even breathing.

And when he felt calmer, he climbed into bed beside Tony.

Bucky remembered sharing a bed with Steve many times when they were young. As a grown man, maybe it should have been different, but falling asleep beside Tony felt comforting, safe. Waking up wrapped in a tangle of limbs the next morning felt good in an entirely different way, but also felt very awkward. Luckily, he’d managed to extricate himself before Tony awoke to feel the evidence of his enjoyment of the position.

The fear of further awkwardness wasn’t enough to prevent him from seeking that comfort again, however.

* * *

Bucky’s eyes snapped open when he awoke to a scream that wasn’t his own. His body tensed as his senses automatically assessed the situation.

He was in Tony’s room. There were no intruders. The scream had come from Tony, who was now fighting free of the covers, stumbling out of bed and out the door.

“Tony...?” Bucky found his voice in time to ask an empty room.

Clad only in the flannel pants he wore to bed, Bucky moved to follow the other man. He caught up to Tony at the bar, while the genius was pulling a bottle of scotch from a cabinet underneath rather than the commonly used bottles kept above.

Tony uncapped the bottle and, instead of pouring himself a glass, raised the bottle straight to his lips and took a long swig.

“What--what the hell, Tony?” Bucky demanded, shocked by everything he was witnessing.

Tony choked a little, apparently not having noticed Bucky’s presence, and some of the scotch spilled down the front of his tank top. He inhaled sharply, like the splash had burned, then he turned to glare at Bucky. “The fuck are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?”

“I came to check on you. Is this what you always do when you have nightmares?” It had to be, with how automatic the process had seemed.

“Oh, like your coping mechanism is so much better, running to me like a four-year-old crying to mama.”

Fuck. Bucky was stunned at how sharply Tony’s words cut, how it felt like falling off the goddamn train again...

“Shit, fuck, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t--” Suddenly Tony’s venom was gone, guilt on his face and fear in his voice. He took a step forward, reaching out with the hand that wasn’t still gripping the alcohol.

Bucky took a step back, schooling his face as best he could to hide the pain. “That’s what you think of me?”

Tony shook his head frantically. “No, fuck, god no, I’m so sorry, I’m an asshole, please, I’m sorry, I...”

The desperation in Tony’s voice helped to soothe the hurt, but Bucky didn’t want Tony hurting, either. He stepped forward, placing his right hand on Tony’s arm. “It’s okay.”

Tony looked at the hand, then met Bucky’s eyes. “I don’t want you to stop,” he whispered, as if admitting something shameful. “I like that you come to me. It makes me feel...”

“Needed?” Bucky guessed.

Tony nodded, looking uncharacteristically bashful.

“I know the feeling. When Steve was little--you know, not just when he was a kid, but when he was tiny--I helped him out when he was sick. I hated wondering if this time might be the time he wouldn’t make it, but... I liked that I could help him, makin’ soup an’ fillin’ the bath an’ just takin’ care of him. Liked feelin’ needed.”

He moved in closer, his lips inches from Tony’s forehead. Pitching his voice low, he confessed, “Wouldn’t mind feelin’ like that again. Ya know, if you’d be willin’ ta try my coping mechanism stead’a this crap.” He gently pulled the forgotten bottle from Tony’s hands and placed it on the counter, then smoothly stepped back.

Tony stared at Bucky’s lips, licking his own, then glanced in surprise at his empty hand. When he met Bucky’s gaze again, he looked cautious but hopeful. “If it means you’ll use that accent, I might be persuaded.”

Bucky hadn’t noticed that he’d started slipping into his mostly-faded Brooklyn accent, but if Tony liked it... “Yeah?” Bucky asked, deliberately elongating his vowels and hardening his consonants, “Is that all I gadda do?”

“Well, not _all_ ,” Tony replied, sounding more like his playfully demanding self than he had since his unpleasant awakening. “I’ve been told I can be pretty... needy.”

Bucky gave him a sly grin. “I think I can cope with that.”

* * *

They later discovered another way to recover after nightmares: sex. Both agreed that this was by far the best coping mechanism.


End file.
